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Time for Patent Reform: Key Lawmakers Take Aim at Trolls

Oh, how the times are changing. The last few weeks have brought significant encouraging news about the prospects for patent reform. Leaders in D.C., including the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, along with the President, have all acknowledged the essential need for immediate reform.

What is much worse, the legislation wholly fails to address many of the biggest problems plaguing the patent system, especially the problem of patent trolls. This is especially troubling now, as trolls are targeting small app developers, driving some of those developers out of the U.S. market entirely. The reform act also does nothing to limit patent damages by aligning them with any actual value of a patented invention. We hope legislators won’t treat the passage of patent reform legislation in 2011 as an excuse to ignore the growing troll problem, which stymies innovation, hurting individual inventors, small businesses, and our economy at large.

What does this all mean? It means that every key player—the Representative and Senator who actually control which bills get a vote, along with the President—has recognized that the patent system needs reform. It also means that now is the time to dig in. Contact your representatives in Congress and tell them you support the SHIELD Act, important legislation that would go a long way to fixing the patent troll problem.

We hear more legislative proposals are coming, so watch this space for more information. We'll let you know what's good and what's bad, and also let you know what you can do to help the fight to get dangerous patents out of the way of innovation. To be sure, the root of this problem is software patents, and we're working hard to convince courts and policymakers that we need real reform that targets the source of the trouble. But, in the meantime, we'll continue working with those who are open to making the world safer from trolls and bad patents, and we hope you'll join us.